Vicious Shrimp

[putemup]

Over the past few days my wife has been yelling at me to fix the tank because one of my corals looked awful. We'll I checked my levels and everything looked fine to me. I told her all was well and that it would snap out of it in a few days.

Today I came downstairs and noticed that one of my two newly purchased peppermint shrimp were eating the coral.

I purchased the shrimp about a week or so ago to eat one small baby aptasia. Well they have and are now moving along to my corals.

All suggestions are welcomed as to how to make these guys leave my corals alone since I no longer have aptasia?

Thanks

 

[ringo®]

Make sure they get fed or nothing is safe. Mine has eaten some pricey zoa in the past.

 

[putemup]

How do I feed the shrimp specifically? I was under the assumption that overfeeding would cause algae in addition to other problems.

I will generally feed fish and some corals myses shrimp. I'll try dropping in a few more.

 

[ringo®]

If your not running a reactor......I wouldn't necessarily overfeed, but I would make sure some food hits the bottom. Even more so just before lights out.

 

[putemup]

Yea, no reactor here...I'll try to put a little extra food out. The funny thing is that they turned my coral into a buffet with the lights fully on.

 

[jello!]

Peppermint shrimp destroyed my 37 cube reef. No matter what they were fed, the still ate all my corals. I will never buy another unless it is for a fish only.

 

[tbub1221]

Iv never had this issue , but have talked to others who have delt with this same issue.
Apparently its hit or miss wether or not they keep it up , some shrimp get viscous.
Maybe look at removal if they keep at it.

 

[just josh]

You can seperate the shrimp...feed them fish flakes only....while feeding shrimp feed aptasia snall amounts of the fish flakes.


then reintroduce hungry shrimp back into tank that was just fed flakes to aptasia. The shrimp usually go right for the aptasia.

I have had friens that just torch the 'tasia off and around the area where it was growing in fear the shrimp they added would slowly munch the softies.

Edit: Would have added*

 

[jennm]

Can you post a picture of the shrimp? There is another, "not coral safe" specie of shrimp that somewhat resembles the Peppermint. Sounds to me like that's what you might have.

This is a Peppermint (Lysmata wurdemanni)

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This is a Camel Shrimp (Rhynchocinetes durbanensis, R. uritai and L. californica)

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Here is a post I ran across that describes in more detail:

http://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/370196/differences-between-peppermint-shrimp-and-camelback-shrimp">http://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/370196/differences-between-peppermint-shrimp-and-camelback-shrimp</a>

Jenn

 

[putemup]

I only have a phone camera so a decent picture would be unfeasible. The shrimp looks exactly like the top picture (Peppermint (Lysmata wurdemanni)).

I bought the two of them solely for the purpose of eating the one baby aptasia stalk I had. Well they made short work of it and have moved on to greener pastures AKA my corals.

 

[just josh]

If there is no food for them they WILL still eat coral...


get rid of them or put them in your fuge

 

[y-not]

Personally, I hate the little buggers.
We got them as part of our 'clean up crew' but soon after, we were having a hard time feeding certain corals because the little wankers would steal the food before the corals could get it in their mouths.

We kicked them to the curb. We recently bought some just for the Aiptasia. Dropped them in and the Firehawk ate them all before the next morning.

Still have the Aiptasia though. :yuk:

 

[putemup]

I'm going to try to feed them (specifically) a little more but if that doesn't work, is there a fish that I can add that will eat them and not bother the rest of my CUC?

I would prefer to just remove them but I'm not really sure it's a feasible option without really disrupting my tank.

 

[outdrsyguy1]

I would just take them out if I were you. adding a fish that eats them limits your future possiblities unless you really like the fish. They are pretty darn easy to catch. You can make a shrimp trap or just use a clean drinking glass. I just put a piece of shrimp down in the bottom of the glass and hold it near the wall of the tank. Wait for the buggers to really get in there and start digging in and move the opening of the glass against the side of the tank. Then just slide to the top.
You can almost catch them with your hand but they tend to bolt when you are grabbing them. I caught 3 in about 30 minutes. I bet I could do it in 10 now though.

fyi they ate my long tenticle anemone and that's why I removed mine. at first i thought they were scavenging but when I saw tenticle bits and internal fluids coming out of the anemone it was time for them to go. Unfortunately I just saw 2 aptasia in my tank so gotta figure out what to do about it. I tried aptasia-x and it didn't work for me. I even took one out and held it under a lighter for 40+ seconds and it came back in the same spot after about 1 month. It's like just 1 cell can survive and the buggers come back..

 

[putemup]

I've decided to name the duo my "Special Forces". I caught one today using the shrimp in the glass technique recommended by Outdrsguy1 and placed it in the sump.

I'll attempt to catch the second tango in a few days.

I'll deploy them on an as needed basis to the display if anymore aptasia is seen.